


Find a Penny

by AlwaysTh3Martyr



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Mentions of torture and rape but no graphic depictions, Multi, Not between Tony and Penny, Romantic relations may come later, Will add more as I go
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-04-15
Updated: 2017-05-22
Packaged: 2018-10-19 05:50:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 8,288
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10633560
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlwaysTh3Martyr/pseuds/AlwaysTh3Martyr
Summary: Tony gets taken by Ross, who then brings him a Penny. Pennys are good luck, but no one told Ross that.





	1. 1: When Given a Penny...

**Author's Note:**

> I don't own the Avengers, but how cool would that be?

When Tony got back from Siberia things were bad, he was hospitalized for all of a month before he broke himself out. No one cared, things in their own life going on that superseded him breaking out of a hospital due to sheer boredom, that was old hat for all involved. In fact what had them concerned when they actually bothered to visit was that he hadn't tried to escape yet.

And it hadn't been because he didn't want to, no, it had to do with the empty tower he would be returning to. The reminder that the people closest in his life had abandoned him, which was actually old hat for him as well.Pepper dumping him, Happy becoming Pep's body guard -not that Tony had needed one, but still -Rhodey when he first became Iron Man, and his parents -though only on a purely emotional level. People abandoning him was nothing new... Still it didn't mean it hurt any less every time it happened, every time he fell short of someone elses expectations, or failed to do something right that should have been obvious from the beginning, or even if just his opinion happened to differ from the general consensus.

That was all okay though, because sometimes some of them, Rhodey for example, came back, or would eventually after he'd placated them in some way. Like when he gave Rhode the War Machine armor, though now he wishes he hadn't, because his best friend might never be able to walk again. He wondered if he made the right choice with SHRA, if he could've done something different, but really what else could he have done, aside from going postal on a brainwash victim, he couldn't make his fr- team listen. In the end it pretty much rested on their faith in him to not screw them all over, faith in him they apparently didn't have.

Well, he'd learned his lesson: Tony Stark will never have anyone truly in his corner.

Then Steve's package came in the mail. He burned both the letter and the phone in an unsatisfying bonfire in his workshop. Soon after, Ross called.

 

 

Tony wasn't a fan of waking up in damp dim lit places, but the universe liked to conspire against him on the regular so he feels it was a long time coming. One day, he'd been back at his tower for one day before Ross pulled the kidnapping stunt, because who else but good ol Thunderbolt could it be? Justin Hammer? He didn't think so, especially with the angry message he'd left.

And so began his days of torture with a fun game of 20 questions in between. Where are the rest of the Avenger? Are they planning something? What are they planning? Do they have the Winter Soldier with them? All of which he answered with biting wit and a cheeky "Fuck You." Yep he was a rock star. Stark Star. Ha, that hadn't been funny. 

With the torture came fun flashbacks of Afghanistan, of the Ten Rings. Sometimes he could here Yinsen. Maybe he was dying, it sure was taking a while. Did he want to die? He couldn't tell anymore.

They showed him news reals sometimes covering his disappearance. The media made him out to feel guilty for letting his team done, for turning on them. He hadn't, but what did the truth matter to anyone these days. Ross stopped by to gloat and he could picture the Avengers just nodding along grimly with everything being said.

Sometimes he wished it were Afghanistan.

 

 

They brought someone in, a girl, shaking scared in an Air Force uniform, she was dark skinned with hair tied back tightly in a small bun. When he didn't answer there questions they beat her, when he snarked at them they removed her fingernails, when he begged them to "just let her go," they took her to another 'room' where she'd scream and scream until they brought her back. When they left she cried, big brown eyes spilling over with the unshed tears of the day.

"I don't blame you," she whispered days -maybe weeks -later. She was a good kid, and she was a kid too, barely twenty -if that -by the look of her. This was his fault, but she didn't blame him. "He knows where they are," she said a bit later, "he already has all the answers, he just wants you to tell him."

He stared at her. Of course Ross already knew, of, fucking, course. The bastard probably wanted to drive it all home, tell the others the only reason he found them was due to Tony's stellar cooperation.

"Don't do it," she looked oddly determined, "no matter what don't tell him," like she knew something he didn't. He didn't like that, not in the least.

 

 

They raped her. He could hear it all from the other 'room'., her loud screams, her begging for it all to stop, and the deafening silence when all was done.

She'd known it was coming, he realized sometime after they'd brought her back to their shared 'room'. No matter what don't tell him, she'd known what was going to happen to her. Perhaps for the first time since being taken, he, Anthony Edward Stark, felt powerless. How could he save her? Save them, he doubted she'd be up to leaving him behind should the opportunity ever present itself. She was a bleeding heart type of person, all for one and one for all.

 

 

"Why are you here," he asked her one day.

She looked at him for a moment, "I was assigned to assist him one day, play secretary to the Secretary of State. My dad's one of 'his people'... Anyway, I heard things, things I shouldn't have about the accords and his intent behind them."

"Like what?"

"From what I overheard," she sighed, "soldiers. His aim is to have an army made up entirely of meta human individuals. He has people working on ways to subdue a person with unique abilities so they can't turn on him, and this is for the ones who register under the accords. The guy has other people working on his sentinel program, which will be used to subdue those who refuse to register."

"Go figure, can't be bothered with originality when it comes to his plans." Tony shook his head, "No chance of him letting you go? I mean, and no offense, who would even believe you if you told anyone?"

She shrugged, "Beats the hell out of me." They fell into silence.

 

 

"What's your name?" Tony looked at the airman, but her uniform top had long since been recycled , scrapped to be used as makeshift bandages.

Her gaze went unfocused for a moment and it concerned him greatly that she even had to think about it at all. "Rhodes, Penelope Rhodes," her face scrunched up, "Call me Penny though, I prefer it."

"Rhodes huh," he thought of Rhodey, wondered what his bestie was up to. "I have a friend with the same last name."

"I know," she said leveling him with a no-shit look, then the doors opened and company returned.

 

 

Penny didn't scream anymore, had stopped crying. A weird hope had suddenly overtaken her, though she did her best to hide it. Each day she would be smiling more and more, until one day she pulled a phone and two guns from somewhere on person and presented them to him.

"There were three guys today and they were all dumb enough to leave these in my reach," she flashed him a sharp smile, "are all men stupid after sex or just them?"

"You are amazingly unfazed by the whole," he gestured at her not wanting to say it out loud.

"What? The rape," she took a breath," it's not that I'm unfazed, I hate it, I was a virgin before this, it's just that it's not worth focusing on. I can't make them stop, I could barely bring myself to get these, but I- I'd prefer not to think about it. Okay? If I do, then I know I won't be able to function and to be honest I tell myself I need me this way. Unfazed. But also, what if I did freak out, if I flipped my lid? What could be done to improve the situation?" He couldn't answer her. "That's right, nothing. There is, or was, nothing to be done about it. Neither of us had the power," she paused, "though the whole unfazed thing might end once we get free and are somewhere safe. Preferably a place with a shower, because we must smell ripe by now."

"So," he drawled, "no freaking out now, but you might later?"

She nodded, "Yeah pretty much."

"Okay then."

 

 

Penny managed to get herself a pocket knife. When they broke out they left a trail of bodies behind, nothing but bullet wounds and slit throats and arteries. Penny was scary accurate, but Tony supposed survival mode could do that to a person, plus everyone kept getting within range of her thinking 'easy target.' Sucked to be them. It also helped that everyone seemed to be armed, because for every one person they brought down, they acquired more weapons aiding them in their escape.

When they finally reached the exit Tony made a call to a number he pretended not to have memorized. 

"Hello?"

"I need help. Find me when you make it over," with that he hung up and turned to Penny. "Let's get moving."


	2. Lucky Penny

The phone went dead and Steve could do nothing more than stare uncomprehendingly at it. Had Tony really just called him? He wondered what could be wrong, what sort of trouble the billionaire philanthropist had gotten into if he was calling him for help. 

Leaving his room he decided to go hunt down Clint to see if he could pull anything up on Tony's recent activities. He would've at least heard through the grape vine if something had been happening to his ex-team mate right? He hoped none of his friends, those who sided with him, would keep anything like that from him, after all he still cared about the genius. Quite a bit in fact, but that was neither here nor there.

He found the archer sparing with their host in his immaculate, but still somewhat sub-par, gym. "Clint," he yelled getting his attention, the pair stopped and Clint made his way over to his patriotic themed leader.

"What's up Cap," he said cocking his head to the side in a rather birdlike manner. "Wanna turn to fight the panther?"

Steve shook his head, "Maybe later. Look, I need you to look into something with Natasha real quick, it's about Tony. I need recent news coverage about what he's been up to recently."

Clint gave him a look, posture straightening up. "Why? Something happen?" 

"Yeah, Tony called asking for help," he said a contemplative look on his face. "I don't want to go off half cocked in case this is a trap, so anything on his dealings with Ross, or similar, I want to know." The archer nodded, turned on his heal and made his way from the gym.

"You do yourself a great disservice Captain," spoke up T'Challa, who'd been listening to the proceedings. "Stark has faults, yes, but from what I've seen of the man he is rather loyal. I find it hard to believe he would knowingly lead you and your team into trouble."

"The accords-,"

"Were written up and agreed upon by 117 different nations, nations whose people fear the power your team wields. You invade nations going after threats without thought, you destroy homes and vehicles, places of work and worship without thinking of how this affects the civilians you are protecting, without wondering who exactly pays for the damage done. From what I've seen of you while harboring you here, none of you have thought on this or given the accords another thought. You made this entire ordeal about your friend, saving him, and while loyalty is good, you were ignorant in your actions." The king began to walk away before stopping a moment to add over his shoulder, "In all of this can you honestly say you gave Stark a chance? Wasn't he a friend?" And with that he was gone, leaving Steve to stand there alone to ponder over his choices.

He made the right decision, he was sure of it.

Mostly...

 

 

"So it looks like Stark's been missing for six months," reported Natasha as she walked into the dinning hall. "He broke out of the hospital after being there for a month and was apparently snatched from his tower." 

Steve sprung up from where he'd been seated and began to pace anxiously. Six months, Tony had been missing for six months and he hadn't known, would have never even suspected if the genius had not found a way to get a hold of him. To many things could've happened in such a long span of time, things like what happened to Bucky. He shivered.

Speaking of Bucky, the Winter Soldier was sitting beside Steve ram rod straight, head bowed in deep consideration. "We should help." Everyone went silent glancing at the brain wash victim.

"You out of all of us should have the least motivation to help Stark," spoke Clint with a derisive snort.

Bucky's head snapped up to glare at the archer, "Why?"

"Siberia. Blowing off your arm."

"He just watched me murder his parents and found out Steve had been lying to him for three years." Steve started to protest, but a look from Bucky shut him up. "A lie by omission is still a lie Steve, if you had told him before Siberia would have gone differently."

Giving them a curious look Wanda asked, "What happened in Siberia? You guys keep mentioning it." The others nodded also curious, especially Sam since he was the one to tell Tony where they were heading. However the guilty look on both super soldiers face told him that maybe he didn't want to know.

"After the video, you know Tony went after Bucky," Steve began and the others all murmured agreement, "well we fought back obviously, but I- I slammed my shield into the arc reactor. We left him there in his powered down suit. It was bad, me and Buck against him. We practically tore him apart."

"It's okay Steve, Stark-,"

"If you say he deserved it I'll put you through a wall," growled Bucky. Clint shut his mouth. "All of you blame him for why your here, but you all chose this, chose to be here. We've all made our bed, now we're lying in'em." In the ensuing silence the atmosphere was so tense it was a wonder it wasn't visible.

"So," piped up Scott, "we're saving him then?"

Steve turned to look at him briefly before addressing them all, "Yeah, yeah we are. Everyone suit up."

 

@

 

Penny wasn't feeling well. Hadn't been feeling well since before they broke out, everything was to hot and she kept throwing up. It wasn't really a stretch for her to assume that she may or may not be pregnant, after all her assailants hadn't seen it fit to bother with protection. If she wasn't up the duff then that left her with any illness. She wondered if she should tell Tony.

Glancing over at him she decided against it, he'd only worry. Worrying would slow them down. They didn't have the time.

 

 

They had been walking aimlessly for a few days now and Penny was convinced the only reason they hadn't died yet was due to a combination of dumb luck and her "intuition." It also helped that, while not in a forest, they're were enough trees and foliage around to duck into and hide if needed. And it had rained a day back, to which they had been immensely happy about, because fresh water... Even if they did end up soaked.

Of course the good luck had not lasted long, another day gone by found them running for their lives, Ross's men in hot pursuit. Thank god there were no civilians around to get caught up in the mix, but Tony did get shot, which meant Penny had to try and drag him to safety, praying to Thor that her "intuition" kicked in to help. It did.

Penny's ability led to her finding a small abandoned shack of some sort hidden in a particularly thick group of trees. Not giving herself time to think about she rammed open the door and dragged the bleeding genius inside, making sure to get them as far away from the entrance as possible. Then she waited, listening with baited breath to the sound of the thugs going past outside.

She sighed in relief, she had time now to look over Tony and assess his injuries. It wasn't good. They'd shot him in his leg, hence him having to be dragged, but they also somehow shot his chest full of shrapnel. It must have been the initial shot that had sent them both running after the billionaire got back to his feet, though how he ran with shards of metal in his chest Penny hadn't a clue. The man was a survivor if she'd ever seen one.

Self aid and buddy care did not prepare her for this though as she tried to dig the metal out from beneath his skin, Tony hissing in pain the deeper her fingers dug. "I'm so sorry," she sobbed a bit, and the genius only shushed her, murmuring his understanding.

She couldn't do this, she wasn't Yinsen, she had no medical or mechanical knowledge she could rely on to fix Tony. And an attempt to look it up on the phone they'd snagged yielded nothing of value, not to mention it died after a minute. They were well and truly fucked.

Looking around the room, she tried to see if there was anything that could possibly help her, but all she found were weapons. Lots and lots of oddly advanced weaponry to be stored in a decrepit looking shack that was apparently bigger than it looked from outside. Speaking of outside, Penny suddenly picked up the sound of voices, grabbing a gun she made her way back to Tony, crouching next to him and aiming at the entrance.

She only had to wait a moment as a hulking figure entered the door frame, a twisted smile on his face, but before he spoke she pulled the trigger, the shot surprisingly silent. The guy fell and Tony groaned. She waited though, before going to his side, to be sure no one else was coming through. Re-assured for the time being, Penny crawled carefully over to her... friend and resumed pulling metal from his skin.

 

 

Some time later as she was finishing up the best she could, three more mindless looking thugs entered the shack and Penny once again had her gun aimed at the entrance. They chuckled, "Aw, the girly thinks she can take us out all on her own," one said and she vaguely recognized him as one of her assailants. She thought she'd got them all during her escape. Apparently not.

"Bet you two thought you were clever, evading us for this long," sneered one of the others, "but we was only playing with you. Little girls like you ought to be familiar with tag right?" He took a step towards them and she fired, but her shot missed and they all laughed. "Girl can't even shoot straight, we should'a waited longer, dragged it out more."

"Nuh uh, boss man wants them brought back ASAP," there was a pause, "well he wants Stark back anyway. Said we can keep the girl." Two of the three leered at her, advancing further into the shack. One grabbed her by the arm and ripped the gun from her hand while another got behind her and hefted Tony up so he was standing, head lolling about he was so out of it. 

"You both can stay and play with the girl, I'll take-," the thug never got to finish, because that was the exact moment help arrived.

Tony's lips curled.

The Avengers had arrived.


	3. A Penny's Meeting

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the late update.

When the Avengers hit the ground they had maybe thirty minutes to hurry and find Tony. The genius had a tracker somewhere on him, planted after Afghanistan, by Rhodey and Jarvis. They'd received this information from Friday the moment she became aware that they were looking for him, the only reason she hadn't given this information to Ms. Potts, Colonel Rhodes, or Vision was that they were all being monitored, there were even radars in place to detect if any of his suits of armor were deployed. In short the AI had no one to entrust his location with and any previous attempt to contact them had been ignored on their end.

Steve felt shame well up in him at this. Sure he'd given Tony the burner phone, but he hadn't forgiven the man enough to have kept track of his own. A horrible over site.

Anyway, they split off into pairs to cover more ground, Hawkeye and Scarlet Witch, Falcon and Black Widow, Captain America and the Winter Soldier, and Ant-Man with his ant army. 

 

 

Steve would have almost missed the hidden little shack if not for Bucky pointing it out and the noise coming from inside. Nodding at each other they approached the shack, entering quietly and assessing the situation. Inside they were able to see Tony being held up by a burly looking man, while another man had a girl by the arm and was making crude remarks, then there was a third man standing off to the side just staring eagerly at the second.

Having seen enough Steve moved further into the shack making his presence known, from his position he was able to see Tony smile as the, not entirely lucid genius, caught sight of him. From behind him Bucky surged forward throwing a knife at the man holding Tony, the two of them then fell over with the burly man landing on him.

The man holding the girl then hoisted her up in front of him like a shield and pointed a gun to her head. However, once in his arms the girl rammed her head back, twisting from his grasp, before jabbing her hand at his neck and kneeing his crotch. Once he was down, and a bit stunned, she danced out of the third mans reach executing a neat tuck and roll over to Tony's side.

Third man exposed Steve barreled forward aiming a fist at his head. All threats taken care of, he then moved over to where Bucky was trying to convince the girl to let them near Tony. She was a bit hysterical and bleeding out from a wound at the side of her stomach. Looking over his shoulder, Bucky sighed at him before striking the girl against the head. She was out like a light.

"I got her, think you can carry Stark?" Steve smirked a bit moving carefully to lift Tony, who was still, by some miracle, somewhat conscious.

Tony's head lolled, "din th'nk you'd come." Steve's heart broke a little. How bad had he screwed things with Tony for the man to think he wouldn't help him out while he was in trouble? He resolved to make things right, even if the genius forgave him, because honestly the man was to forgiving.

 

 

It took Tony four days to finally get fed up with medical and escape. He was surprisingly fast on crutches and, to Steve's chagrin, managed to completely evade him and the other Avengers completely with the exception of T'Challa. Apparently the king and the billionaire got on surprisingly well, though that could have had something to do with Penny, the girl they'd found with Tony. The two men were said to be seen running after or following the girl as she darted about the palace in a frenzy of activity bothering the guards for this or that reason. Or it could have been that they were discussing the accords, since both men were on the same side for the whole 'Civil War' debacle and were pro-accords.

Steve hoped Tony would start interacting with hi- the team soon. He missed his friend, missed his grumpiness pre coffee fix, missed his tech babble, and just missed his company. How he would go out of his way to make things easier for him to adjust, or try anyway, because sometimes Tony missed the mark and thing ended up going way over Steve's head.

Sure he was glad he had Bucky back, but... 

He missed Tony.

 

 

 

@ @ @

 

Tony hadn't spoken to the Avengers since he'd broken himself out of medical. Despite being saved, he couldn't get over the people in his life, people he had housed and thought of as family, turning their backs on him, making him take action on the orders of an asshole, and not trusting him to make sure they all didn't get screwed. Then there was Siberia, and the engineer could barely stand to be in the same room as the man anymore. Steve scared him.

Sure Bucky had gone after him to, but he had attacked Bucky first in rage, though after his initial blow he'd realized his mistake. To bad he hadn't had much time to apologize or say anything immediately afterward, because Steve was going after him, then Bucky chimed in taking his que from the blond. It was all Tony could do to fight back and be sure he didn't do anything that would kill either of them. That arc reactor in the suit could power half a city, if not the entire thing, and it would not have taken much to use the many arrays of weapons built into it to kill the two, but he held back.

And finally when he was on his back staring up at Steve, he saw it. There was a look in the blonds' eyes that screamed 'The End' and Tony thought, this is how I die? Then the shield came down on his chest instead and that was much worse. The arc reactor in pieces and inoperable, unable to power his suit any longer...

Tony shook his head to remove himself from the memory. He looked out at the Avengers in the dinning hall and took a breath. Maybe he could talk to them all later, or have T'Challa do it, he and Penny had already discussed with him what was brewing back stateside with Ross.

A hand gripped his shoulder, looking down he met Penny's eyes as she smiled up at him encouragingly. "You got this." He smiled back at her, he wondered how long until Penny'd leave him, she seemed nice, but people always left him. Shaking his head again he walked himself into the room and the conversations all stopped as everyone focused on him.

"Well look whose finally ready to face up," said Clint, leaning back in his seat. The archer was about to say something else, but something struck his head making him yelp and fall back. Everyone blinked, then turned their focus onto to Penny.

"My hand slipped," she said with a smile that could scare Odin, if this apparent All Father ever got off his ass to grace earth -Midgard -with his presence. "Though I have more rocks, so y'know, mess with him at your own risk," she paused, "also you aren't allowed to retaliate, picking on pregnant people is mean." She looked up at him, "Take it way boss man."

"We need to talk about Ross," he began locking eyes with his former teammates, "he's using the accords as a cover to launch his sentinel program. i still believe the accords are a step in the right direction for u- you guys, but this project could effect civilians."

"How'd you learn about it," asked Ant-Man, Tony couldn't remember his name. "Were you helping with the project, is that why he had you prisoner?"

"Wouldn't surprise me." Another rock was thrown at Clint, he dodged, but was hit with a second rock he hadn't noticed.

"I will stone you to death if you do not shut up birdboy." Penny canted her hips and crossed her arms, the pose making her usually un-noticeably round stomach more pronounced as it strained the fabric of her hoody. She had taken to wearing baggy clothes after her pregnancy had been confirmed to hide it, the sight of it unnerving her and inducing panic attacks. "He knows because I told him."

"And how do you know," pipped in Bucky. Steve looked over at him his expression one of surprise, Tony noted off handedly. Curious.

"My dad works for him for one and leaves notes where anyone could find them, then there's the fact I was working as Ross' secretary for a while and did some snooping. Point is, we gotta problem." 

Tony shook his head, "Here's a question though, me and Penny have been captive for months, six for me and four for her. No ones been around to impede progress on this sentinel program, what if he's already got it up and running? How do we stop them?"

Wanda snorted from where she sat beside Sam, "We break them."

Penny sneered at her, "So- due to some shield files leaked all over the internet, the design for the sentinels is based off Tony's suit -the earlier models -and are self learning. They are able to adapt t-,"

"If they work," scoffed Wanda.

"They do," shot back Penny. The two went on for a while and Wandas' hands were starting to glow the more upset she got with Penny, and Pennys' eyes were starting to look more and more gold. Then Steve stepped in before things could get out of hand.

He turned to Penny, "You keep talking like they've already been built."

Penny ducked her head guiltily, "They have been, they just haven't been deployed. I kind of get these feeling from time to time, a flash of intuition that just sorta downloads information into my head. It's kind of why I went snooping in the first place, to confirm it all." She took a deep breath, "How do you feel about mutants?"

Tony felt a migraine coming on. Penny hadn't told him that bit.

 

 

Five hours of yelling and arguing later it had simultaneously been agreed that Natasha would be sent stateside by herself to do some recon. No one was happy about it, but it had been the only conclusion they'd all come to for a few reasons. 1.) Any more people and they could risk getting discovered, when rescuing Tony they'd just been lucky, but luck was unreliable. 2.) Natasha was a well respected spy and assassin before she became an Avenger. And 3.) She wasn't actually listed as a fugitive since she'd primarily been seen on Tony's side of their 'Civil War.' In short she was the only one they could trust to get the job done alone.

Tony tried to slink away when things had calmed down, but was promptly stopped by Steve. The super soldier grabbed his arm and smiled down at him. Once upon a time the engineer might have thought it was adorably puppy like, all eager and radiating excited energy, but now all he could see were the cold eyes and loathsome expression from before being left to freeze to death in the cold. 

He flinched and the blonds' face fell, expression turning sad. His heart clenched, he wanted to forgive Steve, already had in fact, but he couldn't bring the rest of himself to forgive him. Being around him made his body tense in anticipation of a strike like a natural reaction. He just wanted to go home, see Pepper and his Rhodey bear, introduce them to Penny, and assure Friday that he was okay. The Ai already knew of course, but without being able to scan him she was mildly freaking out over his well being.

"Look Rodgers," at the use of his surname, Steve had stumbled back a step like he'd been struck, "just give me some space. I swear I forgive you, but I just- I can't be near you right now." To soften the blow he added a halfhearted smile and said, "Okay Capsicle," before fleeing the room with the stares of his ex-teammates on his back.

 

 

That night Tony dreamed, not for the first time, of snow and blood and a laughing man that looked suspiciously like Howard standing over him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here it is, my third chapter. It's not everything I wanted it to be, but it's what bled from my mind to my computer.


	4. Bucky and Penny

Bucky contrary to popular belief, was fine. Sure he’d have the occasional fit every now and again, but that was pretty much par the course he figured, considering that he had been an assassin for Hydra longer than he’d been James Buchanan Barnes. And okay, maybe his fits were dangerous, slipping back into his persona of the Winter Soldier easier than coming out of it, but still. He was okay, he promised.

In fact it was everyone’s constant asking if he was okay that was the problem. They’re constant prying was often what set him on edge and Steve. Steve kept waiting for him to be somebody he could hardly recall, a friend, a brother in arms, and it made him feel guilty knowing he would never be quite who the blond remembered. It was unfair.

And the kicker?

The only two people who didn’t set him on edge due to constant pestering avoided him like the plague. Tony, and Penny since she was never more than at least twenty feet from him, went out of his way to flee –yes flee –anytime Bucky was anywhere near him. And it hurt to know that, even though he hadn’t been in control, he deserved it.

Sometimes he wished he was still the soldier, everything may have been out of his control, but things had certainly been simpler.

 

 

At three in the morning Bucky found himself awake, breathing heavy from a nightmare. Tired, but unwilling to go back to sleep, he pushed out of bed and made his way to the kitchen to fix himself a cup of warm milk to sooth his nerves. Which is how he found himself alone with Penny.

The girl was typically never more than twenty feet outside Tony’s radius, so finding her alone, unaware, and reaching for a box of thin mints atop the fridge was about the weirdest thing he’d seen as of late. Quietly, after watching her continue to strain for the box and be continually thwarted by her engorged stomach, the ex-assassin crept up behind her and snagged the box before passing it to her. Startled, she jumped a bit and nearly fell to the floor in her half attempt to flee to safety.

After a moment, which she used to calm herself, Penny turned to face him and smiled tearfully. “Thanks Frosty,” she said with a tremor to her voice. And God he hoped she wasn’t about to cry. He was never trained on how to deal with hormonally imbalanced women.

“My names Bucky,” he said to possibly divert her from crying. She snorted and gave his arm a pat before moving to sit on the floor, carefully maneuvering into a reclined position against some cabinets.

“Wanna share,” she asked sounding entirely unsure. Often she went into fits of her own when faced with her pregnancy or separated from Tony, but she seemed to be fine with just them. Perhaps it was more her own situation combined with being in a group of strangers that contributed more to the attacks than anything else?

Taking a seat beside her he crossed his legs and reached for the box. “Why aren’t you freaking out?”

Penny looked at him and shrugged, “It’s easier to accept being preggers when a group of busy bodies aren’t constantly staring at my belly with pitying looks. I get pissed off, then I- I just panic.”

“And the Tony thing?”

“You mean aside from the fact that for four months, give or take a few weeks, he was my only sense of safety and security,” she looked at him derisively as she shoved cookies into her mouth, “Nuffing.”

“Huh.”

“Mm-hm.”

 

 

After their meeting in the kitchen, Bucky noticed that Penny would attach herself to his side like a shadow if Tony was unavailable for one reason or the other unlike before, where she’d hide away somewhere resurfacing when the genius emerged. It baffled him, which meant it damn near confounded everyone else. It was hilarious.

Penny’s attachment to him also meant Tony spent time in his vicinity now too, which put Steve on edge, but they tended to ignore him. Not to be mean, it was just that the blond had the bad habit of staring at them. Like he kept waiting for Tony to go off on him at any moment, and yeah that’d suck, but the engineer was in no condition to deal out any kind of damage.

If anything the engineer was more likely to go off on Steve with the way he flinched when he got to close. It had gotten better, but it was still very obvious that something between the two was badly broken and they needed to talk… When Tony was ready, and when Penny finally let the blond near without ripping his head off for approaching the billionaire.

All in all, things were pretty good.

 

 

 

@ @ @

 

Natasha had been on her own for a week and had checked in with Steve and others twice. She’d gotten close to a rather good looking scientist and he’d pretty much led her straight to the dormant Sentinels, bragging about he made them himself. However, it had been a trap. How they knew to expect her she didn’t know.

What she soon found out though was that the manlike machine learned quickly, it began to anticipate all of her moves. It was time to cut her loses and get the hell outta dodge, but she had to bring back a souvenir for the others, so she brought the braggart of a scientist along during her escape.

Penny had been right, at least marginally so, she hadn’t got to see it go up against anyone with inhuman abilities, but if it could somehow copy them… She shivered.

The future wasn’t looking so bright.

 

 

 

@ @ @

 

Penny bolted up right from Bucky’s lap with a sharp cry. Her head felt like it was splitting open, images of a dystopian future flashing across her mind at break neck speed. Stop it, she thought at the images, then out load, “STOP IT!”


	5. The New Arrival

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait, I'm in the middle of moving and things are hectic, but here is chapter 5.  
> Enjoy!

There weren’t too many people left in the States for Natasha to depend on, so she went for someone she knew would have reason to help her. Someone who was being watched, but not too closely. Someone who she knew would be more than willing to help.

Hope van Dyne.

The woman was absolutely furious with Scott. Turns out the Ant-Man suit the he had sported for their ‘Civil War’ was on loan to him from Hank Pym, who had not given his permission for its use. In short should Scott return to the US he’d be getting slapped with a petty law suit.

This is where Hope came in, she was already discreetly looking for Scott, but had no leads from what the spy could tell. So her plan was simple: lead Miss van Dyne to one Scott Lang and get a free ride back to Wakanada on a private jet. Easy.

 

 

Natasha watched as the heiress paced about her room in a rather simple apartment muttering to herself like Tony on a work binge, or a coffee high, or just in general. Maybe it was a rich kid quirk? She’d say science, but Bruce never took to muttering to himself out loud, rather he was a scribbler. He’d write on any available surface, his notes often overlapping so much that none of it seemed salvageable unless you were Tony, whose own mind must resemble Bruce’s note taking.

“Scott,” Hope said drawing Natasha’s attention back to herself. The heiress turned to look at her, lips twisted into a –somehow lovely –feral smile. “I’ll take you back, but you WILL keep the other rouges from interfering when I get my father’s suit back.” 

She agreed to the terms except, “Scott doesn’t have the suit.” Natasha wasn’t sure if Hope could look any madder than she did in that second, and she wasn’t one to pray, but right then she sent a prayer up for Scott’s soul. 

“Doesn’t have it?” It was said in barely above a whisper, but it made the spy cringe –internally –with fear. 

Scott Lang was a dead man.

 

 

Since boarding the jet Hope had been silent, tapping her finger in a stuttering rhythm against her arm rest. Widows’ captive on the hand kept grunting and groaning around his gag like a mad man. It was all irritating, but at least she was getting things done. She’d be back in Wakanda in under six more hours of continuous flight.

 

@@@

 

Steve sat with Tony as he waited for Penny to wake up, for once the other man didn’t seem to be bothered by his presence. Leaning against him in a slump while he kept his eyes trained on her still form. It was a definite improvement, even if it had been prompted by something bad, the super soldier was desperate so he was taking what he got without complaint or further contemplation.

“I should probably let you know, I’ve forgiven Bucky,” said Tony out of the blue. “I don’t think I was ever really to upset, it was just that finding out was a shock and I could have handled it better than I did,” he sat up and turned his gaze to Steve briefly, “I wasn’t trying to kill him though, beat him around maybe, but not kill.”

He disagreed, and it must have shown on his face, because Tony leaned away from him and his expression closed off. “Steve, if I’d wanted to kill him, well I’m weapon-smith, I used to make the best weapons on the planet. If I was serious about killing either of you, you both wouldn’t have stood a chance. I could have easily flown out of your reach and blasted you with the concentrated energy of my arc reactor, which as you know can power a city block or two by itself and blow it away if weaponized. And unless you can regenerate your entire body, you would have died. The both of you.” He turned his eyes back on Penny.

Steve stayed quiet thinking about it. He’d actually never known that about the arc reactor, if the genius had told him before he certainly hadn’t remembered, and Tony did build great weapons, did so for the team on a regular basis and they were lethal when utilized properly. He even remembers thinking a time or two that he was happy to never be on the receiving end of the engineers’ ire for fear of death, or at least a serious maiming.

Tony very well could have killed them if he’d been trying… Like Steve had been trying to do. Guilt surged through him not for the first time over Siberia, that entire situation could have gone so many ways due to multiple varying factors before that point. Now he was left with a deep regret, though he still felt he made the right choice about the accords… even if he still hadn’t read them through entirely. He opposed their idea, what they stood for.

Never the less, the guilt was crushing.

“Steve,” Tony was looking at him again, “I forgive you too for Siberia.” He cocked his head to the side, “But I can’t forgive you for lying about my parents, that was- I just,” he couldn’t find the words, but Steve still understood.

“I’m sorry,” he said wishing he had the words to convey everything he felt, but nothing was adequate enough so he settled for the platitude. 

“I know.” He resumed watching Penny.

 

 

Three days later and they received a transmission from a Hope van Dyne that sent Scott into an excited frenzy. The billionaire was going to be landing her jet in Wakanda to drop off the Black Widow. Steve was relieved that nothing had happened to her and was eager to meet Ant-Mans’ girlfriend.

However, as seemed par the course for those who sided with him, the reunion between Scott and Hope was not a happy one. Fresh off the jet she had marched up to him and struck him clear across the face leaving a glowing red hand print. When he told her he really didn’t have the Ant-Man suit in his possession, confirming what Natasha had told her before, she had to be held back by the Dora Milaje to keep from maiming him.

And after being given the complete story about the Civil War Hope had stormed off dragging Tony, who had barely just shown up, with her. Clint claimed it was billionaire solidarity, but Steve was pretty sure it was just because Hope thought that Tony was the only one who could more aptly explain to her the political side of things that the others –himself included –hadn’t tried to understand.

Who knew maybe the two could solve the whole accords thing, minus the Ross bit, on their own to make it more Meta-human friendly.

 

Steve didn’t see Tony for two days after Hope’s arrival, but the good news was that Penny had woken up and assured the worrying super soldier that the genius was okay. Better than okay in fact, apparently the two billionaires were talking business and science. He felt a pang of something wicked flicker inside him for a brief moment at the thought of them getting along and he was afraid to call it jealousy, but there was no denying that’s what it was.

“What’s wrong Cap?” Natasha had come up behind him.

“Nothing, just thinking about Hope and Tony,” he replied trying to sound nonchalant.

Natasha smiled, “Whatever you say Steve.” She moved to walk away before pausing to ask, “Want to help me play twenty questions with our new friend in the dungeons?”

 

@@@

 

Bucky found hanging out with Penny conducive to feeling a bit like he used to be when he was actually “Bucky.” The down side was the sudden return of his libido. It had hit him hard, no pun intended, and he found himself… reacting to almost everything like a hormone driven teen.

Penny and her need to snuggle and be overly tactile in general? Not helping matters. Natasha in her skin tight cat suit? Also not helpful. On top of that Clint and Sam were throwing him knowing looks while Steve kept asking if he was okay, which was all kinds of embarrassing when both aforementioned women were present. Honestly it was like Steve hadn’t ever heard of tact before.

Then there was the ribbing that inevitably followed once his friend wizened up, followed by the –if-you-touch-her-I’ll-kill-you-forealsies talk from Tony. Scott had overheard and despite his mopping about Hope, he’d still laughed and laughed, or at least he did until Bucky gave him his ‘Winter stare’ and shut him up. 

Natasha was pretty chill about it though, one teasing remark in between talking strategy and that was that. The issue was Penny who remained frustratingly oblivious to things like that, despite her ordeal with her captors, though perhaps that contributed to her ignorance of his body’s response to her affectionate touching. She did the same with Tony, but the older (?) man had the luxury of not being the slightest bit interested in the younger girl. And yeah Penny was younger than him too, but only by six years, not too huge of a difference unless you went chronologically from when he was actually born back in 1917. Then you had problems, because that put him at almost 101 years old.

 

@@@

 

Penny watched Bucky from across the room as his expressions transitioned through a variety of different emotions. She was pretty sure she knew what was bugging him, but she wasn’t quite ready to deal with that yet, so she remained stubbornly ignorant to his plight. Confident that even as she did so, Bucky would not act on anything until he was sure about what he was feeling and had a clear indication that she wanted the same.

She could see the future after all, so she had insider knowledge on how things in their lives could or would turn out. And as she pat her bulging stomach she smiled, the image of a crying blue eyed infant dancing through her mind. Bucky would be a great father one day and, hopefully, it would be in a sentinel free future.

Penny turned her gaze to Tony and Steve who were whispering back and forth with Natasha. She’d have to fix the two of them first and get Tony to trust Steve again, the opposite would never be true, which was unfair to her friend, but that’s just how it was. She hated Steve for it, but was sure she could look past it in the long term.

Turning to her left Penny dropped her gaze to settle on Hope who was sitting on the floor messing with her phone. “Hey Hope,” she said waiting for the older woman to look up at her, “You bored?” When the other woman nodded in the affirmative she beamed a toothy smile at her, “Want to help me with something?”

**Author's Note:**

> Not entirely sure how long I'll keep adding to this, but lets see where my muse takes me.


End file.
